For the Good of the Many
by MiserableFairy13
Summary: Rima has never been good at keeping promises. That's why she stopped looking for the boy who had been her childhood. After all, her promise to him meant nothing after he left for the other girl. So why does he fit back into her life seamlessly when he comes back once again?
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Rima Mashiro has never been good at keeping promises. That's why she stopped looking for the boy that she remembered from childhood. Her promise to him meant nothing when he left for the other girl. So when she meets the bespectacled boy again, can she figure out why he fits seamlessly right back into her life: coming at the right time, always being there?

It was a cool summer day. The dandelions and sunflowers waved in the wind, winking and smiling. Two children were sitting in the grass together. One was wearing a cream-colored sundress. The other was wearing brown dress pants, and a collared shirt.

"Mashiro-san," the male said, "school is starting soon."

His words weren't a statement, they were a question.

Rima brushed wisps of hair away from her cheeks, toying with the ribbon on her braid.

"Kairi," she said sternly, "I think that you should've gone and checked it out yourself if you were curious. You know you don't go to school in Seiyo. By the way, when are you leaving? Mother said that I should probably give you a goodbye present."

He shifted uncomfortably in the grass, staring up at the sky. "Well," he started, "I must tell you, Mashiro-san. I'm not coming back to Seiyo for summer vacation anymore...because my older sister says that I must help her with her work."

The two looked at each other, communicating with their eyes.

_She should do it herself._

_I know, but she's my older sister._

_Will I ever see you again?_

_Probably not._

_Goodbye, Kairi._

_Farewell, Rima._

They sat in utter silence for a while. The orange tree they were sitting under swayed with the wind quietly. Leaves blew all around them, like a scene from a movie. Rima had her arms tucked around her knees, staring at the ground. Kairi was watching the sky.

Finally, she found the courage to speak again. "Look, Kairi. There's a mushroom."

Her slightly humorous statement did nothing to help the belligerent mood floating around. She could feel the increasing awkwardness.

Standing up, she said with a twinge of regret, "It was nice knowing you, Kairi. I'll see you later."

Then, she flounced away before he could see her tears.

Silently, she cried, her eyes brimming over, and liquid dropping onto the ground.

After all, she knew that there wasn't going to be a time when she'd see him again.

But she prefered to stay in the memories.

Current Time:

"Mari-chan!" called Rima's best friend, Harumi Kotobuki, running up to join her on the path to the residential area. "Mom said we could bake cupcakes today!"

Grinning like a cheshire cat, she caught at Rima's sleeve. "Guess what?"

Rima sighed. She knew that she didn't like Harumi. Her loud voice, her long hair always getting in her way, her inability to call anyone at all by their actual name, and her lack of subtleness. But something drew her to be friends with her.

Maybe it was her inexhaustible energy. To be honest, that was actually cute sometimes.

"Anyway, Mari-chan, we're going on a field trip practically tomorrow! The whole of class 2-A! I begged the treasurer to let us go to that hotel you like, Wisteria Mountain."

Here, Rima actually smiled. Admittedly, she liked Wisteria Mountain. It had been built in the field that she and...him...had used to play in. And their parfaits were to die for! The first time she had ever laughed in Harumi's company was there.

"But you know that Junko is soooo boring. I mean, _she _wanted to go to the Downstream Research Laboratory near the river. Finally, the president agreed to let me take class 2-A to Wisteria Mountain, and Class 2-B is going to the Downstream Research Laboratory."

A tremor went through her at those words. She was going to go to Wisteria Mountain again...she hadn't been there in years, but she did remember talking to Harumi about her previous experiences.

"Come on, Mari! Let's go pack..."

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"I'm sorry, but the rooms 249 to 259 have been given to surprise guests of more importance. We can give you a refund, but you'll have to find another place to stay for the night."

The cashier was sympathetic to them, but couldn't really help.

Rima was sitting on a gilded loveseat with Harumi. Both were bored out of their minds, Harumi actually snoring a little.

"Miss, you're going to have to tell your group to leave. We lock our doors at midnight."

Harumi shook awake, and gave a nod, then stood up, declaring, "Come on, guys! We can find somewhere else to sleep. Let's see...Google Maps tells me that there is a hotel about 80 miles from here...the speed limit is 40 mph, so we'll get there in 2 hours."

The weary students trudged out of the warm lobby, disheartened. The thought of going back out in the snow gave Rima tremors.

"Stop shaking! The bus is warm, get inside, guys." Here, Harumi stopped and gently shoved Rima in the bus.

The bus driver started a head count. "18...19...20...21."

She couldn't help but gasp. "21 students!? Who's the extra one?"

Mr. Shinozaki pulled out his roster, and screamed, "There are 21 students on this roster!" His eyes furiously perused the entire sheet, flipping it over. "There were certainly only 20 before we came in here."

Suddenly, a head poked up from a seat. A tall girl stood up, and said, "Mr. Shinozaki, is there the name Touko Yamada on that sheet?"

He nodded wordlessly. "Then the office must've counted me as a student. I'm Ms. Yamada, the last-minute chaperone."

Relief spread throughout the bus. But Rima was still frightened. She poked Harumi next to her.

"Ouch! Oh, that hurts. What is it, Mari-chan?"

Rima whispered softly, "Have you ever heard of a Touko Yamada before now?"

Harumi blinked. "No, I haven't. Maybe she's someone's mom or older sister who's married. It's okay. Not like she's a serial killer."

It's funny, because Rima could swear that Touko Yamada was not on the bus this morning.

In the very last aisle, there were many thumping sounds, and somebody screamed.

"Ahhhhh! HARUMI-SAN!"

Wordlessly, the two got up and ran to the back.

There, on the seat, was the dead body of Yuka Saionji. Her eyes were completely empty, staring up at seemingly nothing. Harumi took her pulse. "She's dead."

Noticing a glint on the floor, Rima bent down, and was about to touch a syringe, when Harumi cried, "Don't!"

She was holding a medical kit. She pulled out thick gloves, and picked up the syringe carefully, dropping it in a plastic bag contained within the kit.

Realizing what it could mean, both stared at Yuka's seatmate, Miku.

Miku caught on. "N-no! I swear it wasn't me. You have to believe me, Harumi-san, she's my friend, I wouldn't!"

Suddenly, she whirled around. Everyone's eyes were on Mr. Shinozaki.

He had an incredulous look on his face. Slowly, Harumi made her way up the aisle, and grabbed the paper he was holding out of his trembling hands.

She read it out loud. "You fortune: somebody you meet today will die soon after."

Then, she looked at the traffic light they were at, then at a paper on the dashboard.

"Yuka...her name's not on this list anymore."


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: Rima Mashiro has never been good at keeping promises. That's why she stopped looking for the boy that she remembered from childhood. Her promise to him meant nothing when he left for the other girl. So when she meets the bespectacled boy again, can she figure out why he fits seamlessly right back into her life: coming at the right time, always being there?

On the wall, suddenly, appeared a painted message. It read:

RULES OF THE WITCH'S LABYRINTH

(a) Every time somebody dies, be it by murder, suicide, consent, or accident, their name will be taken off the roster. Even if somebody were to fake death, then their name will remain on the roster until they truly die to avoid someone being "dead" twice. The remaining survivors will have a set amount of time to determine how they died, who killed them, directly or indirectly, their time of death, and the last 3 people to have seen them.

(b) As a rule, if somebody was the culprit of 1 or more murder, they will be killed.

(c) If nobody is killed every 2 days, then the bus will be crashed, and everyone will die.

(d) For another motive to kill besides rule c, every time a death occurs the survivors get more food and/or supplies as needed, such as if someone had a very bad headaches, strong aspirin. Yes, your current supply will run out eventually, and if it does, it will not be re-stocked unless a death occurs.

(e) To ensure that nobody cheats these rules, the Gamekeeper will arrive shortly.

(f) If the Gamekeeper dies in any way, then everybody on the bus will be killed.

(g) A person among you is a witch. Should that student die, first their name will NOT disappear off of the roster, and then the whole game will disappear and you will be back on the road in which you encountered this labyrinth.

(h) Should that aforementioned person decide that they would like to reveal their true identity as a witch, then they will be forced to stop the game immediately. Of course, even if the revelation is not direct or if it is accidental, if someone figures out their identity, it will be counted.

(i) One student, specifically a student, among you has the power to circumvent any of these rules. It is impossible for that student to be the witch, and so therefore if you find out who they are, then you can eliminate them off of your witch list. That student was already told of their special status.

(j) If the immune student dies, then their power will not be given to anybody else, and will be lost.

(k) Finally, here is a roster of all the currently alive people on this bus.

(0; M)Sanjou Kairi

(1; F)Fujisaki Nadeshiko

(2; M)Fujisaki Nagihiko

(3; F)Hiiragi Rikka

(4; F)Hinamori Amu

(5; F) Hoshina Utau

(6; M)Hotori Tadase

(7; M)Ichinomiya Hikaru

(7; M)Iwagaki Yugaku

(8; M)Kirishima Fuyuki

(9; F)Kogure Yukina

(10; F)Kotobuki Harumi

(11; F)Mashiro Rima

(12; F)Morino Mimori

(13; M)Nakagura Takuya

(14; F)Nozomi Miku

(15; M)Shinozaki Rei*

(16; M)Souma Kukai

(17; M)Suzuki Seiichiro

(18; F)Yamabuki Saaya

(19; F)Yamada Touko*

(20; F)Yuiki Yaya

(21; M)Yukito Shiki

The bus began to buzz with chatter. Was this really happening? Who killed Yuka? Why was Saaya's hair so pretty today?

Shaking off the last question, Kairi did his best to answer. "Yes, this is really happening, and I know who killed Yuka, but you're supposed to figure it out yourself. Investigate if you want. Questioning will commence in 2 hours. Goodbye."

With that, he retreated to a seat in the back, seemingly engrossed in taking notes on...something. Rima cautiously headed towards him, not sure if he remembered her. In a timid voice, she said, "Kairi-san...?"

He looked up, glasses glinting. Cooly, he said, "What is it?"

She muttered, "Not like you care."

Straightening up, she said in a loud enough voice for him to hear, "What do the numbers next to the names mean?"

In truth, she had just wanted to hear his voice, and talk to him. She had so many questions. Why did he come back?

He chuckled, and started to briskly walk to the wall. He waved his pencil, and an additional rule appeared, out of nowhere.

(l) The numbers next to the name are important. Every time somebody dies, their number will be added to a chart on the wall. If the sum ever equals exactly 42 for a whole hour, then the survivors get to leave the bus. No tampering with the chart by adding or removing numbers.

In a loud voice, he declared, "Listen up, students. Another death has occurred." Surprised, the class looked around, and noticed that Yukito Shiki was missing.

Quickly, they split up to look for him, pairs going off in different directions. The bus was a triple-decker, which meant that he could be on any of the three floors. Finally, from the bathroom on the second floor, they heard Fujisaki Nadeshiko scream.

Rushing to the bathroom, Rima saw Shiki's body, laying on a chaise chair, his mouth open, and glasses hanging askew. His hair was red with blood, and there were cuts and scratches all over him. Nadeshiko's skirt was also covered with specks of blood.

Shaken, she said, "H-he raised his head to look at me, and...coughed...some of the blood from his mouth landed on me!"

Hinamori Amu pushed through both of them, and said, "I'm going to check to see if he's dead. You might not want to watch."

The two girls turned around, their eyes covered tightly. Finally, Amu shouted, "I'm done! He's most definitely dead."

Shuddering in fright, Nadeshiko took a handkerchief out of her ever-present purse, and wiped her skirt off. Still, the image of the bloody plaid tortured Rima.

Throwing the used napkin into a trash can, both girls proceeded to exit the bathroom. Amu stayed behind to clean up, insisting that she didn't want or need any help except for them to get out and tell everyone else about what happened. Sighing, Rima made sure that her outfit was immaculate. It might've seemed insensitive, when somebody was just murdered, but it was absolutely necessary. It wouldn't do to go around looking like _Nadeshiko_. She looked like she'd been through a ravaging, bloody apocalypse.

Heading downstairs, she met with Harumi, who appeared grim-faced. "So Shiki's dead," she stated. "Are you going to be the one who tells everyone or am I?"

The question was unexpected. Thinking, Rima said, "Harumi?"

"Yes, Mari?" she responded absentmindedly.

Excitedly, Rima whispered, "Is Shiki's name still on the roster?"

Her tired, half-closed green eyes suddenly snapped open. "I didn't think of that."

They rushed downstairs, eager to make a new discovery.

Sure, enough, Shiki's name was still on the list.

But Hinamori Amu's name had just disappeared.

Harumi muttered, "A co-conspiracy thing, huh?"

What was most noticeable, though, was Kairi.

Calm and collected one moment, he was sobbing the next.

Tears fell like rain from a cloud.

He uttered a single word. "Amu..."


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: Rima Mashiro has never been good at keeping promises. That's why she stopped looking for the boy that she remembered from childhood. Her promise to him meant nothing when he left for the other girl. So when she meets the bespectacled boy again, can she figure out why he fits seamlessly right back into her life: coming at the right time, always being there?

Standing around waiting for Kairi to come back to his normal calm and collected demeanor was very irritating for Rima. Harumi poked her, attempting to figure out why her best friend stood like a brick against a wall, glowering at everyone but her.

"Mari-chan?" she tried. "Maybe it's not the best idea to just do nothing. We have an investigation to do!"

The only sound in the room was the Gamekeeper on the floor, sobbing like a baby. Rima kicked him in the side. He did nothing. Figuring that he wanted to be left alone, she turned to leave, when-

He grabbed her foot, yanking her to her knees. Whispering so that Harumi wouldn't have the chance to catch what he was saying, he said, "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I'm not the boy that you used to know. So stop treating me like it."

To prove it, he broke her ankle with his hand alone.

Stunned, she sat in a pool of blood, watching him leave.

But he didn't get very far, because Harumi, who had been listening in on their whole conversation (and had excellent senses, as Rima knew from sending her on a couple of "missions") kicked him in the face, and knocked him unconscious. She locked the door on him, but not before putting Rima's ankle into a splint and bandaging it.

Gently, she caressed Rima's hand while the process was happening. "It's _okay_, Mari! You can stop snivelling...okay, that's insensitive. Here, here."

What ended up happening was that Harumi gave Rima a piggy-back ride downstairs. The students and the two adults were huddled in a corner. They were definitely shocked when they saw Rima's bedraggled form on Harumi's back.

Nadeshiko rushed over, forgetting her manners and her grudge for a second. "Mashiro-san! Is she okay?" Gently lifting her down onto the floor, she noticed Rima's flushed face and half-closed eyes. "Who did this to her?"

Harumi stopped panting for a second to answer. "It was that Gamekeeper of ours, Sanjou Kairi. I knew he was a conniving asshole. Didn't realize he'd go so far as to break someone's ankle just to prove a point. Locked him in the upstairs bathroom. He's out cold."

With that, she sat down wearily, and used the nearest person (Hikaru, who remained completely stoic) as a pillow.

His only comment about it was, "You're warm. And sweaty." She threw her handkerchief at him. He started to mop up her forehead and neck.

"Now we're forced to determine facts about Amu-chan and Yuka's deaths," commented someone. It was Nadeshiko's twin brother, Nagihiko.

Harumi glared at him, rising from Hikaru's lap for a second. "Of course we are! I'd prefer if it was sooner than later, because Mari-chan needs something we don't have here."

"And what is that?" he simpered in a honey voice, smirking.

Now, her eyes were dead-set on murdering him. "Pain medication. And not just that lame-ass aspirin stuff. She needs morphine. The amount of pain she must be feeling right now..."

Nadeshiko cut in. "Kotobuki-san's right. Her ankle bone is fractured, meaning she can feel her bone out of place. She really needs strong pain medication. Ordinarily, I'd say no about this stuff since it basically makes you a vegetable 'till it wears off, but it's pretty bad."

Silence reigned, until a voice broke in. "Here. Take mine."

Harumi gaped at her fellow class representative. "Tadase! Why are you carrying around such strong drugs?"

Previously, Tadase Hotori had been a princeling-in-development to Amu's I-am-your-princess attitude. His fit more than hers, mainly because she dressed like she went to a funeral every day of her life and he dressed more like a Ralph Lauren model than a student. Now, he was a terrible delinquent, but that fact was only known to few. Harumi wasn't one, because many of their classmates thought of her as a goody-two-shoes, and therefore the exact person to represent a class.

Clearly lying out of his teeth, he said, "I have awful, mind-splitting headaches sometimes. Mika-chan said that I should take them when the migraines get too bad."

Mika Shoukanji was an adult intern at the Seiyo Clinic. She was also Tadase's "secret" lover, which explained how he got hold of the drugs that he and his friends so often used.

Touko's eyebrows shot up, and her eyes widened. So that little snot-nosed bitch _was _the one who had been stealing drugs from the clinic. Passing it off as mere surprise instead of elation, she said innocently, "I didn't know that Shoukanji-san worked in the prescription areas. In fact, I was pretty sure that she worked at the main desk. A position where you can't prescribe anything. But I must be mistaken."

Quickly shooting into princess mode, Nadeshiko, matching her twin, said in a voice dripping with honey, "Oh, Yamada-san, you work in the Seiyo Clinic? I didn't know that. You must be so smart!"

She snorted. "Or you can simply know the son of the director and have dated him twice."

Everyone was surprised. She was practically admitting to getting her position through dishonorable means.

Smiling a barbed-wire smile, Touko smoothly "repaired" her previous statement by saying, "Of course, I never said that I was the one who did that. How presumptuous of all of you to come to that conclusion."

Of course, everything that she had accidentally dropped was untrue.

Touko Yamada worked for the Seiyo Clinic. She was exceedingly intelligent. She had dated the son of the director, and knew him from childhood.

But she was not Touko Yamada. Rather, that was just another of her plethora of identities.

Their chaperone was somebody that they didn't know at all.

She worked for the Seiyo Information Agency, or the SIA for short. Ordinary civilians like them would know it as the Seiyo Ice Activities, a building rather close to the school that held an ice rink, an ice machine, an icy swimming pool, a kitchen where you could make ice cream, and other different whimsical objects, areas, and machines related to ice. But below the surface, the SIA gathered information about the town.

Oh, she knew quite a bit about the batch of students. For one, Rima's parents were divorced. One lived with a mistress who had killed somebody. The other lived with Rima. Secondly, Nadeshiko was dating Tadase, but Nagihiko had once had a brief affair with Tadase's mother. Yaya had a crush on Kukai Souma, the elite soccer player, but had been unduly harassed by his brothers on multiple occasions (she had stepped in on some, so Yaya might know her). Harumi...well, as described above, Harumi was a goody-two-shoes. The most exciting thing she had done was jump out of a plane...that was maybe 2 feet above the ground.

And Yuka, when she was alive, was very interesting. She had kissed many boys, including Kukai Souma particularly, but not including Tadase.

Gee, who in the world could have killed Yuka?

Snorting, she decided not to dwell too much on it. The morons were already searching, but they'd find no clues.

She had cleaned them all up after finding them, but the situation was dire. A girl was injured, and in a lot of pain.

Grimacing, she stood and dusted off her dress. As far as looks, she wasn't suffering so much. Despite her stress level, her figure was still healthy, and her long, fine brown hair had no traces of gray.

She didn't want to help the students, but she had to.

Her mission had been to hunt the witch Arwen. And not to let any humans die as a result. There was no way she'd disobey orders.

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Arwen was scared. Her identity was still secret, but not for long. She knew that the woman, the sensor, was trying to root her out.

That couldn't happen, until the goal was accomplished. Otherwise, the whole labyrinth was just a waste of her precious mana. Pretty hard to come by these days, since a humans with strong enough souls to be sacrificed were scarcer than hen's teeth.

Ametrine would've been burned at the stake for nothing if she couldn't do fulfill her death wish. And there had been no reason whatsoever that Ametrine should've died. She was a peace-loving witch, not wanting to engage in the magical games and witchcraft that others did to amuse their pitiful brains. She was the one who had taught Arwen that mischief and destruction weren't the only things in life. She had taught about love, humility, sacrifice, and most importantly, regard for human lives.

Many witches saw humans as nothing but playthings and trinkets to be amused with. Because many witches were female (actually, all of them, because the last male one had been wiped out years ago), in the olden days when humans were too befuddled to notice when their male went missing and came back with no life in their pretty hearts, their conquests were legendary. The great witch Elsbeth had dared to love a lovely, Adonis-like human boy named Yuki (even his name had been delicate!) and successfully got him to reply that he loved her. After the declaration, the enchantress became bored with him and simply chopped him up and decorated the trees of the cottage that they had shared with his organs and blood, all the while madly declaring her love for him.

She had cried that day, simply because she had loved him too. Not in the way that a master loves a slave, something of great value to them, that they can use, but in the way that a girl loves a boy. In that simple, innocent, romantic, heartfelt way.

He hadn't loved her back. She refused to use a spell on herself like Elsbeth had to make her look beautiful in the human sense. He thought that she was grotesque and ugly.

This was the only way she could ever truly be with him. His reincarnation was on this bus, she knew. If she could weed him out, they could live together forever!

Disguising herself as a beautiful human girl had been a necessary step in the process. And of course, she stood out. She popped out. She was unique.

That was what had drawn him to Elsbeth on the day that they had met. No hair back then could've been bubblegum pink. And no eyes could've been golden.

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The world shook. Rima opened her eyes.

There she was, draped across an unconscious Kairi, in the upstairs bathroom. The door was locked. She rattled it.

"Harumi, let me out!" she called, voice cracking.

This was really happening, wasn't it?

Great. She was stuck in a locked bathroom with her unconscious childhood crush and Harumi clearly wasn't answering anytime soon.

Plus, her ankle was broken, so no kicking down doors.

Opening her purse, she slipped out a handsaw. On the bright side, she could escape now. On the rather dim side, so could Kairi.

Soon, there was a child-sized gap in the door. Resisting the urge to laugh at her brilliance, she slowly crept out of the room to find Harumi.

She didn't realize the noise had awakened somebody.


End file.
